Vermont targets online dating scammers

For Louise Brown, even coming to terms with how she got scammed was one of the hardest things she’s ever done, but talking about it openly so that others can learn from her experience? That, she says, was a break through and helped her get past that chapter of her life instead of getting stuck in it.(Photo: RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

After Louise Brown's husband of 39 years died of cancer, it took her some time to start dating.

"You know, you get lonesome, and you miss the hugs, and you miss holding hands, and you miss having somebody to talk to," the 68-year-old woman from Richmond said.

About three years ago, she joined Match.com to try to find a companion. What she found instead was a thief who robbed her of thousands.

"This gentleman started talking to me, and it seemed like it fit — and he scammed me," Brown said.

The relationship lasted for about eight months, during which the man, who called himself "Thomas," conned Brown out of $60,000 in an elaborate scheme that involved multiple perpetrators.

"It's bad enough going through someone dying of cancer for 22 months, but when you go through this, this is another kind of loss," Brown said. "This is like a violation. I felt very stupid."

Vermont lawmakers on the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development want to prevent such scams. Legislation would require online dating sites to notify affected members when there is suspicious activity on their accounts or when another member has been banned for suspected fraud. The notifications would be similar to those that account holders receive for suspicious charges on credit cards or a change to account information on bank accounts.

The law would be the first of its kind in the nation, said Wendy Morgan, chief of the Public Protection Division of the Vermont Attorney General's Office.

The committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on Senate Bill 73. Botzow expects the bill will pass both the committee and the House.

Since 2012, the Attorney General's Office has investigated six cases of online dating scams in which victims lost a combined $600,000, said Rose Hayes, a consumer protection investigator in the Attorney General's Office.

When scammers have engaged a victim on a dating site, they usually try to move the conversation quickly to email, instant message or phone to avoid detection.

Victims might be groomed for months before scammers ask for money by giving the victim daily attention in the form of emails and phone calls and proclaiming their love. Meanwhile, they try to solidify their identity in the victim's mind, Hayes said.

"The typical scammer portrays himself as someone who has lived in the United States but is working in Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, Ghana, usually as a construction contractor or an architect," Hayes said.

Scammers claim a client has failed to pay them for their work. They need money to travel for a family emergency. In the case of Louise Brown, "Thomas" claimed he needed help to pay for building permits for a road project. Brown said he convinced her to give him money by reminding her they were soul mates.

At first, Brown said she gave "Thomas" her own money, about $20,000. Then, when her money ran out, "Thomas" proposed using her as a conduit to deliver money from a "friend."

The friend, allegedly another scammer, would place money in Brown's account, and then Brown would send the funds to "Thomas." Brown discovered it was a scam when her credit union's fraud department contacted her and informed her the "friend" was a known scammer. The money that was sent to Brown's account was invalid.

As a result, Brown had to pay back all of the money — about $40,000, which she had she transferred to "Thomas" through her credit-union account.

Hayes, the public protection investigator, said most victims are single or widowed women between the ages of 55 and 78. Some lacked family support in their local area.

"Unfortunately, I've seen loneliness as the No. 1 key factor that causes people to be vulnerable in these situations," Hayes said.

Hayes said scammers are nearly impossible to catch, because they typically operate overseas and use phones and emails that are difficult to track.

"We simply do not have the resources to chase them in Malaysia, Turkey, Ghana or South Africa, all over the world, which is one of the reasons why we request that victims notify the FBI as soon as possible to keep them apprised of the increases of the scams, amounts being sent, and where the money is flowing," Hayes said.

In 2013, there were 6,412 online romance scams reported to the FBI, according to the agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center. The victims lost a total of about $81.8 million.

Broadening the bill

The House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development last month added the notification requirement to an overarching consumer protection bill: Senate Bill 73. When the Senate passed the bill last month, the bill focused only on rent-to-own agreements. Since then, the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development has added the online-dating-scam section and other consumer protections recommended by the Attorney General's Office.

The amended bill would require Internet dating sites to notify members by email or text message within 24 hours when there is a change to their accounts, such as a password or email address. When a member is banned for suspected fraud, the online dating sites would be required to notify everyone who communicated with the banned member on the site — within 24 hours, if possible, and no later than three days.

The notification must include the user name of the banned member, the fact that a banned member used a false identity or might pose a risk of attempting to fraudulently obtain money from another member, and a warning against sending money or personal financial information to another member.

"It's not notifying the world. It's only notifying people who communicate with the banned member, because scammers typically quickly move communication off of the dating site to emailing or instant messaging, where they can't be monitored," said Morgan, the attorney general's chief of the Public Protection Division.

A couple of major dating sites, including Match and eHarmony, worked with Morgan to help craft the language in the bill, Morgan said.

Match does not track the number of scammers who have operated on the site.

Traub advised, "No one should send money, or provide any financial information, to someone they've never met. They should be wary of someone who quickly asks to move from the dating platform to a personal email or messaging service, or who professes love, destiny or fate right away. We provide these basic safety tips to our members in every communication on Match, and following them is the only way we'll really stop these professional criminals."

Louise Brown testified in the House committee March 31 and in the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs on April 16.